Thomas De Gendt won the first stage of the Paris-Nice on Sunday, a 154.5km ride round Houdan, for his first major stage victory and Belgium’s first stage win in the race since Gert Steegmans in the 2008 edition.
The 24-year-old — who also dons the overall leader’s jersey — edged out Frenchman Jeremy Roy in a sprint finish, while Australia’s Heinrich Haussler was third.
De Gendt said that this was a maiden major victory that he had thought he would have been celebrating in the Tour Down Under in January.
Photo: Reuters
“I am an attacking cyclist,” De Gent said. “Already in the Tour Down Under I should have won a stage, but I made the fatal error of launching the sprint from too far out. Its my problem, I’m a mad dog, but I love it, I cannot understand why one would want to hold back in such circumstances.”
De Gendt admitted that overall victory would probably elude him, though he hoped to remain in the overall lead for a while yet of the week-long race.
“Tomorrow [Monday] it is possible that I can retain the lead because its a flat course, but, in the first real climbs on Thursday, I will surely lose the overall lead,” he said.
The Belgian’s victory was a welcome piece of news for his embattled Vacansoleil team, who may be called to account by the sport’s global governing body, the International Cycling Union, over the recent doping allegations over two of their riders, Italy’s Riccardo Ricco and Spain’s Ezequiel Mosquera.
One of the overall race favorites, Peter Sagan of Slovakia, was fourth and New Zealand’s Greg Henderson was fifth.
Haussler had led the peloton in an ultimately vain attempt to reel in De Gendt and Roy, who along with 39-year-old German veteran Jens Voigt, had broken away with 39km of the stage to go.
VUELTA DE MURCIA
REUTERS, MADRID
Alberto Contador recorded his first race win since returning from a doping suspension on Sunday with victory in the three-day Vuelta de Murcia.
The Tour de France champion won the final time trial eight seconds ahead of his closest rivals over the 12.4km course.
Contador had struggled last month in his first race after being cleared of wrongdoing by the Spanish Cycling Federation, finishing fourth in the Tour of Algarve.
“It was an amazing weekend, better than expected,” the Saxo Bank-Sungard rider said. “Winning in Murcia is very important ... Winning here is extra special.”
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